Ideal Emotions by Culture
by Eastern and Western cultures have different views on emotions; and ultimately desires different affective states.
Ideal affect is defined as the affective state that people ideally want to feel (Tsai, 02/16/2011). Research suggests that cultural factors have a much larger effect on the ideal effect than the actual affect. Ideal affect also involves the evaluation of affective states as positive or negative. As a general guideline, westerners prefer high arousal positive (HAP) states, such as excitement or enthusiasm. This is evident by popular media culture, where actors and models are always presented with big smiles and wide expansion of the mouth corners. Easterners, on the other hand, prefer low arousal positive (LAP) states, such as peace or relaxation. Ads in Asia depicts models with much calmer smiles, often closed-mouth with slight upward turn of mouth corners.
The preference of HAP states in western culture is strongly correlated with the corresponding individualistic culture. Westerners place high values on the uniqueness of an individual and emphasize the need to influence others. At the same time, traditional learning styles dictate that a sharp mind is an active mind, which leads to the preference for high energy and activeness. Contrary to this view, Easterners place high value on social harmony based on a collectivistic culture. People highly emphasizes adjusting to others to promote group consensus. Traditional practices such as meditation give rise to the idea that stillness lead to more sensitivity and sharp thinking. Thus low arousal states are value more highly than high arousal states. Lack of understanding of the cultural differences in ideal affect can lead to negative stereotyping of other groups. For example, westerners may view east Asians as more inhibited, stoic, and apathetic when comparing Asian people’s moods to their own. Likewise, East Asians may perceive westerners as impulsive, careless, and impatient relative to more collectivistic moods. Therefore, it is important that people are aware of the cultural differences in ideal affects, as well as other dimensions of being in order to prevent unjustified stereotypes against other groups.
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